Gai-Luron is a French comics series about a melancholic basset hound, Gai-Luron, created on July 12, 1964 by Gotlib. Originally published in the Franco-Belgian comics magazines Vaillant and Pif Gadget, the character joined Nanar, Jujube et Piette, which Gotlib had drawn since 1962, but eventually headlined a hit series of its own. The album collection series began were released from 1975, and the second album, Gai-Luron en écrase méchamment was awarded the prize for French comical work at the Angoulême in 1976.
It follows the anthropomorphic dog Gai-Luron (whose name can be roughly translated as "Jolly Fellow", which contrasts with Gai-Luron's generally apathetic behaviour), his girlfriend Belle-Lurette and his friend Jujube the fox.
The plot sometimes involves Gai-Luron and Jujube reading their fan mail, which is almost always written by the same reader, a little boy named Jean-Pierre Liégeois, or else a friend or relative of his.
Gai-Luron's adventures were published in 10 volumes between 1975 and 1982, and a last one, La bataille navale...ou Gai-Luron en slip, was published as Gotlib's goodbye to the comic strip scene in 1986.
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